Classroom lesson · Festival · 🇦🇷 Argentina

Christmas in summer

Why Argentine families celebrate 25 December in shorts

What is it?

Argentina is in the southern half of the world, so its seasons are flipped from the northern half. December is the start of summer in Argentina, not winter. That means Christmas is celebrated outdoors, in shorts and sandals, with picnics, swimming pools and warm late-night skies.

Tell me more

Most Argentine Christmas celebrations happen on the evening of 24 December (called 'Nochebuena' - 'the good night'). Families gather for a big late dinner that often lasts until midnight, when fireworks go off across cities and towns.

Because it is summer, the food is mostly cold or grilled - asado meats, salads, cold fruit, cold drinks. Many families set up long tables in their gardens or on terraces. The whole evening might be 30 degrees and full of mosquitoes - very different from a snowy European Christmas.

On Christmas day itself - 25 December - many people go swimming, head to the beach, or just rest in the shade. Lots of families exchange small presents at midnight on the 24th rather than on the morning of the 25th.

Argentine Christmas trees are often artificial because real ones are hard to find in summer. Some homes put cotton wool on the branches to look like fake snow - even though everyone outside is in flip-flops!

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01How might a summer Christmas feel different from a winter one? Which would you choose?
  2. 02Lots of Christmas pictures show snow and pine trees. Why? What other ways could the holiday be drawn?
  3. 03If you celebrate other festivals at home, do the seasons change how they feel?
Try this

Classroom activity

On a world map, mark countries where Christmas falls in summer (most of South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa). Then design a Christmas card for an Argentine pen pal. What pictures would you put on it? How is it different from the one you'd send to a friend in Norway?

More about Argentina

Other things that make Argentina special

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